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<h1 class="entry-title">CUPE 3903 Condemns Racist Graffiti and
Bomb Threats</h1>
<div class="entry-meta"> <span class="sep">Posted on </span><a
href="https://3903.cupe.ca/2017/03/22/cupe-3903-condemns-racist-graffiti-and-bomb-threats/"
title="3:54 pm" rel="bookmark"><time class="entry-date"
datetime="2017-03-22T15:54:10+00:00">March 22, 2017</time></a><span
class="by-author"> <span class="sep"> by </span> <span
class="author vcard"><a class="url fn n"
href="https://3903.cupe.ca/author/cupe-3903-communications-officer/"
title="View all posts by CUPE 3903 Communications
Officer" rel="author">CUPE 3903 Communications Officer</a></span></span>
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<p>Over the past three weeks, there have been several incidents
at Glendon College where racist threats have been written on
the walls, targeting Jewish and Black students. On at least
two occasions, York Hall was evacuated due to a bomb threat.
Such threats follow from the recent and alarming increase in
far-right attacks on Muslim, Jewish, and other marginalized
communities. As the union representing graduate student
workers, contract faculty, and part-time librarians at York
University, including Glendon College, CUPE 3903 stands
against all forms of racism and hate and condemns these
incidents. We wish to express our solidarity with students,
staff, and faculty at the Glendon campus, and especially with
the Jewish and Black members of our community that have been
the targets of these threats.</p>
<p>We would also like to express disappointment with the
response from York’s administration. While these threats have
been made over the past three weeks, many of our members at
Glendon, as well as the larger Glendon community, were left
unaware until the last few days. They also ignored queries
from the CUPE 3903 Chair of the Joint Health and Safety
Committee. The York administration has an obligation to
communicate these hateful incidents with the wider York
community in a prompt and open way.</p>
<p>As students, librarians, and teachers at this university, our
members can have a role in responding to this racism and
generating the solidarity that is urgently needed on our
campuses and in our wider community. One concrete way to help,
which students at Glendon have requested, is to open the
classroom to discussions around these incidents at Glendon and
the wider context of racism, anti-Semitism, and Islamophobia.
This is also an opportunity to inform students of the
resources they have (including student government,
organization and clubs, residence teams as well as the
Wellness, Counselling and Accessibility Centre) should they
wish further action or more support. There are also multiple
city-wide organizations should members want to organize
against racism and islamophobia in the wider community (see
list below). In addition, Glendon is hosting a community
meeting this Friday at 2:30 to discuss these incidents (more
details to come). We encourage our members at Glendon to
attend.</p>
<p>In solidarity,<br>
The CUPE 3903 Executive Committee</p>
<p><u>City-Wide Organizations and Groups*</u></p>
<ul>
<li><a
href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/1792848744374213/">Coalition
Against White Supremacy and Islamophobia (CAWI)</a></li>
<li><a
href="https://www.facebook.com/organizingcommitteeagainstislamophobia/">Organizing
Committee Against Islamophobia (OCAI)</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.facebook.com/blacklivesmatterTO/">Black
Lives Matter – Toronto</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/352468731762658/">GTA
Overt Bigotry Response</a></li>
<li><a
href="https://www.facebook.com/Toronto-Against-Fascism-1288185851260986/">Toronto
Against Fascism</a></li>
<li><a
href="https://yorku.collegiatelink.net/organization/ijvyork/about">Independent
Jewish Voices</a></li>
</ul>
<p>Are there more groups we should know about? Let us know! (<a
href="mailto:cupe3903comms@gmail.com">cupe3903comms@gmail.com</a>)</p>
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